I ate my first kabucha squash this winter and fell in love with the mild yet cozy flavor. Prior to this I’ve always stuck with butternut or delicata squash because they look less intimidating. But, you know me. I’m all about going out of my comfort zone and trying new ingredients in my kitchen so here we are with a kabucha squash soup that’s creamy, comforting and has a fabulous kick to it from the combination of cinnamon, curry powder and cayenne pepper I tossed in.  Soup feels like such a winter food yet as we near the end of March, the weather in Manhattan already feels like April in ..read more

I’ve never made lasagna and to be clear, I’ve never had the slightest desire to make it – even coming from an Italian family who loves Italian food. The idea of lasagna seemed complicated and exhausting and I’d find myself thinking, “Why bother”? Most of my food for so many years has been about ease and convenience because I barely had the energy to boil water but now, it’s time for a whole new way for me to cook and actually enjoy my food.  There’s something so comforting and delicious about pureed squash because it gets so thick and creamy. Whether you’re using it for a soup, sauce or ..read more

This was my first time making a tian recipe. I’ve seen them in cookbooks, on menus at restaurants and all over the internet so I’ve been curious about them for quite some time. This recipe is one you will come back to over and over again because of its simplicity and it also happens to yield a gorgeous presentation. It involves slicing the sweet potatoes very thin (I highly suggest using a mandoline for even slices- this is the mandoline I have used for years and I absolutely love it) then placing the sweet potatoes in a well oiled baking dish with some spices and herbs of your choice. The en ..read more

This featured article is sponsored by VSL#3. All opinions are my own.   It’s been a while since I’ve written about my health journey. And so, today I wanted to take some time to talk about where I’ve been, how I’ve been feeling and what’s next. I started this website back in the winter of 2009, just over a decade ago, and it’s incredible to see where I started with my health and where I am now as I begin to more fully emerge back into life and start to truly L-I-V-E. I’ve learned a lot throughout this journey of chronic illness from the age of 24-38, and it’s taught me more than I can pu ..read more

this recipe is quite a study in contrasts – the crunchy sesame seeds, the punchy ginger and garlic, and the sweet and tender roasted squash. it’s a fantastic side dish to serve for the holidays or anytime the weather is chilly outdoors and you’re in the mood to heat up your home with your oven. there are few dishes that don’t benefit from adding fresh garlic and ginger, which give this recipe a distinctive flavor, and they also happen to be two of my favorite ingredients – especially in the winter because they create heat and always seem to warm up my body. while it may seem like there’s a lo ..read more

this is a dish i am certainly proud of and i absolutely loved eating it right out of the oven. it’s cozy and loaded with flavor. this recipe is ideal for a holiday side dish yet it can be served anytime of the year when it’s chilly outside and you want to strike up your oven. while this recipe is certainly substantial enough to serve as a main meal with its hearty (and filling) roasted vegetables, it has enough finesse to be paired alongside a light leafy green salad and a roasted organic chicken or baked salmon.  other citrus, such as tangerines work well here too but the sweeter, less ..read more

I was inspired to create another holiday recipe for Thanksgiving next week and I couldn’t seem to get my mind off of cauliflower and butternut squash because when squash is roasted to it’s tender perfection and cauliflower is steamed and pureed, they are quite the heavenly pair. I didn’t want to make another pureed vegetable soup so I went out of my comfort zone here to create a three-layered recipe with ever-so-sweet butternut squash, salty and tender caramelized onions and fluffy cauliflower. The result was absolutely delicious and I ate most of it with a spoon standing over my stovetop jus ..read more

This was my first time roasting (and eating) honeynut squash. I must say, it’s divine. If you’re not familiar with honeynut squash, they look like baby butternut squash but much smaller. They are so tiny and so adorable you’ll want to buy a few of them. I opted for two at my farmer’s market here in Tribeca because I couldn’t resist. Because of their petite size, they’re much easier to prepare versus larger varieties of squash. That said, if you can’t find honeynut squash in your food store, you can easily use any other variety of winter squash for this recipe such as butternut squash or acorn ..read more

I’ve had this deep desire to start making cozy recipes for the holidays the last few weeks and this was the first one that came to mind. I’ve seen gratin recipes over and over again in cookbooks and on restaurant menus however they always seem to include some sort of cheese and breadcrumbs, which makes them out of my league, if you know what I mean. The better I feel, the more I want to shift out of my comfort zone of cooking and start exploring recipes that would have otherwise intimidated me – and which I did not even have the slightest bit of energy to make or explore. That said, this grat ..read more

  I’ve really been loving pureed soups lately – they are so soothing on my digestion and as these Manhattan days get a bit cooler, I find myself craving something warm and cozy in a bowl. The days of eating salads are long behind me as this weather makes me want to roast sweet and tender root vegetables and turn them into a delicious meal that I can serve throughout the week for lunch and dinner. This golden beet and carrot soup is quite easy to make as it only takes five minutes to prepare. The bulk of the preparation is spent in the oven when these vegetables are roasting so you can eas ..read more